With long, windy roadways leading from N. 16th Street to their country estates, many of Omaha’s founding fathers believed they had the best locations in the city. Their exclusivity gave way to stout, proud and elaborate apartment buildings over the next half century. Eventually peeking, the strip died after the North Omaha riots of the 1960s and 70s. Today it holds little of the promise of its history, but some still shines through despite everything else. For the first time, here’s the history of North 16th Street.

Early Times

Long before becoming a decrepit pipeline for the neglect of old North Omaha, North 16th Street had a history almost as long as the city itself. Beginning as a row of rural estates for the city’s leaders, it evolved into an important residential, commercial, and industrial byway that the city depended on.

The last Nebraska Territory Governor, Alvin Saunders, built his Italianate style mansion on North 16th Street.

Eventually it was annexed into Omaha, and now it blends in with the area around it. But when the Omaha Horse Railway inched passengers with a wagon and horses along the route to the old town, visitors would have seen Erastus Beadle’s house. Beadle was the town founder who moved on to a small town called Denver after his first attempt at profiteering off the west didn’t work out. The next time it did.Before anyone developed N. 16th, it was the country road that led to the old town of Saratoga. Founded in 1856, Saratoga depended on a bend in the Missouri River for its business. Although the town formally boomed and busted within two years of its founding, people kept living there.

They also would’ve seen a Presbyterian school called Talbot Hall, and an old Englishman named Richard Siemon’s brewery in Saratoga, too.

Country Estates

This is the Poppleton Mansion called Elizabeth Place at 2232 Sherman Ave on the corner of present-day North 16th and Grant Ave.

Starting in the 1860s, North 16th Street meandered along with a grand view of the Missouri and its broad river valley. Horse-drawn coaches would inch through the fields and forests along the way. It was along this perfect drive that the city’s original business barons built their plush country estates. They lobbied for the street to be renamed for one of their heroes from the Civil War, the decorated, ruthless Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. In 1879, the City of Omaha changed the name from N. 16th Street to Sherman Avenue.

In the 1880s, Andrew Poppleton built an elaborate Queen Anne residence on his estate called “Elizabeth P1ace”. It was located on North 16th Street and Grant Avenue, then with the address 2232 Sherman Avenue. Poppleton was a famous Nebraska territorial lawyer and Omaha founding father. Many of his colleagues in business, government, and industry did the same, and that is how N. 16th originally served as a broad country road for the broad country estates of Omaha’s wealthy class.

This is an ad for the Sebastopol Amphitheater at N. 16th and Binney Streets in the 1880s.

J.J. Brown built a magnificent brick mansion at 2225 Sherman Avenue. With dozens of rooms, it eventually became a hospital.

In the 1870s, there was a massive flood that changed the course of the Missouri River. In addition to creating the cutoff now known as Carter Lake, it also move the river in this area to the east. The grand old mansions no longer had views of the river, and that left the wealthy old people unhappy with their views. Soon after, they started moving away and selling their land to developers.

Plush Apartments

These are the Bretnor Court apartments at 2536 North 16th Street.

Times changed. As more industry moved onto Sherman Avenue and businesses stacked onto it’s corners, the wealthy estate owners moved on. Moving along N. 16th in the late 19th century, a traveler would’ve seen a transforming area. Early on, there was a horse-drawn streetcar line that ran along the street for a distance. After, you would’ve seen this become a busy roadway filled with commuters riding electric streetcars and darting across the street to their homes and local businesses.

These children are at the intersection of N. 16th and Cady Avenue, with the Sherman apartments in the background. Notice the streetcar tracks and brick pavers in the street.

They would have seen the 1897 Sherman Apartments, one of the city’s first-ever apartment buildings, located at 2501 North 16th Street. Today, its credited as being one of the main starting points for moving North Omaha from being rural estates for rich people to becoming a packed residential area. Built reminiscent of a Greek temple with fat front columns and triangular rooftops, The Sherman stands today as a testimony to the influence of the Trans-Mississippi on the city during that period.

Another important residence was built just about 100 years ago, in 1916, at 2103 N. 16th St. Called The Margaret, these apartments were fancy, high-end rentals for the metropolitan suburbanites who lived along Sherman Avenue and commuted on the streetcar into downtown Omaha. Right across the street from The Margaret is an even more grand edifice to the area’s once luxurious lifestyles, the Strehlow Terrace. Built between 1905 and 1916, the complex included four buildings designed in the Prairie architecture style. Huddled around a courtyard and fountain, the complex was designed for professional class residents to enjoy their apartment lives. Luscious landscaping and suave marketing kept the complex fancy for some time.

This is a 1910s view of North 16th looking north from Nicholas Street toward the Mother’s Flour Elevator in the center. Notice the streetcar and vehicles, as well as the commercial buildings and residences on the left.

Near 16th and Lake, at 2514 North 16th Street, the last notable, existent set of apartments still stands, although in worse repair than the others mentioned here. It was finished in 1929 as a small four-plex apartment building, and is being rehabilitated today. Upscale living when it was completed, each unit had murphy beds, fancy Craftsman fixtures and woodwork, and extravagant tiling throughout. It was indicative of the apartment corridor that North 16th was, and holds one of the keys to the area’s future.

This 1920s postcard shows the Strehlow Terrace Apartments, a high-end complex built in 1905 in North Omaha. Located at 2024 North 16th Street, it was a highlight of North 16th Street and recognized as one of the finest apartment complexes in Omaha. Today, its listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Going Urban

By the beginning of the 21st century the corridor was changing. Gone by then would have been any evidence of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition. After eliminating the possibilities of hosting it at the junction of N. 16th and J.J. Pershing Drive in East Omaha, the Expo’s businessmen-leaders selected a site along N. 24th St. and bordered by N. 16th. Extravagant buildings and grand pond of the site were all gone, but memories lingered. They lingered in the form of the Douglas County Fairgrounds and the Sunset Driving Park, both of which were located between N. 16th and Florence Boulevard, south of Commercial Avenue.

This view shows North 16th from Cady Avenue northwards. Can you identify the buildings here? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Just 100 years ago, driving up 16th Street from downtown Omaha into the north side was a treat for the eyes. A thriving center of the city’s most important industry of the period, which was beer, there were also important places to live and essential places to go. It’s a far cry from the fear of North Omaha that many people have today, and it deserves a closer look on the history of North Omaha blog.

One of the first and most important early big construction projects on North 16th was called the Kyner Block, and it was located on the southeast corner of 16th and Corby. The building was a two-story, half-block brick building, and had seven storefronts with six apartments on the second floor. Built in 1893 by Nebraska pioneer James Kyner, the building stayed vital for a long time. Kyner, a soldier, legislator and businessman, moved to the East Coast to become a real estate investor in 1895, but built this building in North Omaha to support the state that had invested so much in him (pic at bottom).

The Korney Paint Company was opened in the 1960s at 1003 N. 16th Street.

In 1926, North 16th Street became home of the Corby Theater. Filled with 700 seats, there were exquisite details throughout the entire building, including marble and Italian-esque stylings in the lobby and around the entire building. After it closed in the 1950s, it was a storage warehouse for 40 years, opening up again in the 1990s as a nightclub. A major fire boarded up the building in 1999, and its been closed since then.

This was the Storz Brewery at North 16th and Charles Street in the 1910s. Shown here are the main brewery, the ice house and the warehouse. This building stood into the 1990s.

More than 125 years ago, Joseph S. Bauman, a German brewmaster, started the Columbia Brewery in North Omaha in 1863. Just before his death in 1876, Bauman brought Gottlieb Storz to Omaha from Germany as the brewmaster. After Bauman died, Storz bought it and expanded it vastly, eventually building the grand Storz Brewery along Sherman Avenue. Along with other companies in the city’s Big 4 brewers, Storz went on to make Omaha into a premier Midwestern beer manufacturing center in the Midwest for the next century. The brewery closed in 1972, but a portion of the original building stands today.

This former service station is located at N. 16th and Commercial Ave.

As cars became popular, new-fangled gas stations popped up along North 16th Street. There are a few notable gas station buildings left, including the one at North 16th and Commercial. After being built in 1914, it was abandoned as a gas station in the 1950s. According to his stepdaughter Marina Drake, in the early 1960s, George “Andy” Anderson bought the building. He ran Andy’s Transmission Service from this location and later rented it to a variety of car repair shops. Andy retired in 2010 at the age of 85. Marina writes that the building was partially damaged in a fire at about that that time.

Busy Business and Commercial Districts

The Hotel Loyal was at N. 16th and Capitol Ave. in Omaha.

There were a dozen important intersections along North 16th Street, each one lined with busy businesses and commercial district, and several with bustling streetcar stops and more.

The district from Dodge Street to Cuming Street was one of the most important in downtown Omaha. Heading north from Dodge, there were important businesses packed into four- and five story buildings. They included Stephens and Smith Clothing, a piano store called the Meinberg Company, the Omaha Book and Stationary Company, and Stewarts Seed Store. The Union Pacific Tea Company was on the next block, along with a few photographers, a funeral home, a millinery, and a furniture store, as well as the Hotel Loyal, which was at the intersection of North 16th and Capitol.

The rest of the downtown stretch of North 16th was similar in its composition, including hotels, light industry and services, stores and more. There were some standout businesses, including the Omaha Bicycle Company. There were so many historical buildings located along this stretch until the 2010s that there was an idea to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, Creighton University and several other corporations have had most of those buildings demolished, neglecting their historic importance to rebuild downtown in a new vision.

This was 611 N. 16th St. near Mike Fahey St. It was demolished in 2019.

In 1891, the president of Schlitz Brewing Co. was Henry Uihleim. Uihleim came to Omaha from Milwaukee to buy real estate and establishing what would become a collection of tied houses, which were restaurants “tied” to specific breweries. Schlitz No. 3 was designed by architect Charles Kirchhoff, and built in 1897 for $5,000.

It had an iron-finished Queen Anne-style bay window, along with Romanesque-style window arches on the north side. According to Restoration Exchange Omaha, it has its original beadboard ceilings, windows and woodwork throughout. It was likely a Schlitz bar until Prohibition began Nebraska in 1917.

In addition to its apartments, Omaha’s Volunteers of America office was there for almost 15 years and housed variety stores for a long time. In 1972, Nebraska Furniture Company bought the building and spent $1,000 on a renovation. There are also stories of palm readers, bookies and other characters there. In August 2017, local architectural firm AO announced that they started working to restore the space. However, that deal must have fell through, because in January 2019 the Schlitz Tied House was demolished.

Along with this one, other tied houses on North 16th included 201 N. 16th, 414 N. 16th, 512 N. 16th, and 1023 N. 16th. Storz had a bar at the brewery, too.

These are various historic places on N. 16th St. in North Omaha.

Other significant intersections along North 16th included 16th and Cuming; 16th and Clark; 16th and Lake ; and 16th and Ohio. The intersection of North 16th and Locust was a major commercial district where two major streetcar lines met, multiple grocery stores, drug stores, theaters and taverns were located, and several multi-story buildings were constructed. Further north were 16th and Evans, 16th and Commercial Ave, and 16th and Ames, as well as 16th and Fort. Far north, 16th and Reed was the site of a major farm stand.

Redlining African Americans

This is the Jewell Stoneware Company at 1011 N. 16th Street.

During this time, the 16th Street/Sherman Avenue corridor evolved into a more urban feeling. Nearby, the North 24th Street corridor became redlined, a segregation practice by the city’s real estate businesses designed to keep the city’s African American community separate from Whites. It was a nasty racist trick that didn’t involve laws, but everyone agreed to do it. 16th was a boundary in the redlining.

After that though, African Americans filled the area with cultural, commercial, and religious institutions. They burst with the energy and excitement of a thriving community. North 16th was bustling, too, even if devoid of a singular cultural identity. It had all the commercial vigor anyway, with department stores, specialty boutiques, and groceries lining the blocks. There were constant streetcars and private cars trolling the way, with cops and buskers on every corner.

This is an aerial view of Ernie Chambers Court, originally called Strehlow Terrace. It is located on North 16th and Yates Street.

Around the beginning of the early 20th century, at the very northern end of Sherman Avenue was a little farming community called East Omaha. It was home to a grocery, churches, and a cluster of small homes in a rural setting. Further north was the Missouri River as it bent a contour towards Saratoga. Just before the river was the little Florence Lake and a one-room country school called Beechwood School, which was brought into the Omaha School District in the 1940s. Also in this community was Sherman School, which went through various iterations before exclusively becoming an elementary school.

This was the Updike Milling Company at North 16th and Charles Street around 1900.

Murray’s Carriage Repair and Second-Hand Wagons was across from The Sherman, a grand apartment building constructed in 1889 and one of the first in North Omaha. The L. Schiller Grocery and Meat Company was on the other corner, and North 16th was called Sherman Avenue. Ken’s Bar, also a Sell-Rite Liquor Store, was opened on the intersection in the 1910s. By the mid-1940s, Ken retired and then died in 1955. Mrs. Butterfield ran the place as the A-1 Bar, and stayed open until 1970. The bar was across the street from Safeway, which stayed open until the mid-60s. In the early 1970s, there were still funds being raised to decorate the corner of 16th and Lake where Ken’s originally stood. An off-beat movie theatre called Capt Nemo’s was supposed to open there, but didn’t apparently happen. The building at 2424 N. 16th Street was demolished sometime later, and today, almost 50 years later, it still sits empty.

This was the Safeway at N. 16th and Lake, next to Sherwood Avenue. It was built in 1940 and still stands as of 2017.

Modern Times

56 YEARS: That’s all it took to make the difference here. This is a then-and-now comparison of looking south from N. 16th and Binney in 1960 and in 2016.

Today, North 16th is a meager shadow of it’s former self. Left to rot and decay by the City of Omaha and it’s investors, it is a sore sight in need of a lot of love. The grandeur of the Trans-Mississippi, the exclusivity of upper-class lifestyles, and the upbeatness of suburban sprawl have all left the heart of this place. In their places are community depression, cyclical neglect, and local government ineptitude in the face of change. Hopefully time will emerge the champion as targeted investment renews life to old apartments and reminds Omahans of their roots.

In the meantime, we can remember that North 16th Street, aka Sherman Avenue, was ALIVE just 50 years ago and discover that part of it’s history lives in each of us who cares to learn more.

Elsewhere Online

North Omaha History Podcast Episode 6: North 16th Street, pt I – Adam Fletcher Sasse drives us down North 16th Street, starting in the 1850s when it was a country road leading to the old town of Saratoga. We get a bird’s eye view of the mansions that once lined this grand way – also known as Sherman Avenue. (March 27, 2017; mins) Listen online or Download on iTunes

North Omaha History Podcast Episode 7: North 16th Street, pt II – Adam continues his tour of N16th St as it transitions from luxury mansions to plush apartments that still stand to this day. He also gives us a tour of the Storz brewery and the center of commerce that was at 16th & Locust. (April 3, 2017) Listen Online or download on iTunes.

BONUS PICS!

This is the Margaret Apartments at 2103 N. 16th Street. Built in 1916, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.This is a 1900 ad for the California Hotel at N. 16th and California Streets.This was a Red Rose Gas Station, and is still located at N. 16th and Commercial Avenue.This is North 16th and Locust Streets in 1950 and 2015 from similar perspectives.This is the Kyner Block, once on the southeast corner of N. 16th and Corby Streets. Built in 1893, it was demolished sometime in the 1970s.The Ivy Apartments were at 2407 North 16th Street from 1910 until they were demolished in 1986. This is a recent picture of The Sherman, located on North 16th at Cady Street.This is the Governor Saunders Mansion at N. 16th and Grace Streets around 1890.

Carter Lake Pharmacy, 3932 N. 16th St, was open from 1911 to 1989.

In 1935, Lakeside Billiards Restaurant and the B&R Food Center were located at 2821-23 North 16th Street. Today, the space is used for storage.The Cummings Hotel operated at N 16th and Laird Street for at least 50 years. It began serving the Omaha Driving Park and became a flophouse.The cafe on the corner of N. 16th and Corby was open for more than 50 years after it opened in 1926. Here it is in an architectural drawing, as Tut’s Cafe, and as a boarded up storefront currently.This is the interior of Ken’s Bar at 2422 North 16th Street in the 1930s.This is an ad for the opening of Safeway at N. 16th and Locust in 1920.The People’s Mammoth Installment House was at 613 N. 16th St. for two decades.

Published by Adam Fletcher

An internationally recognized expert in youth engagement, Adam leads the Freechild Institute and SoundOut. He is also the editor NorthOmahaHistory.com; the author of Student Voice Revolution and twelve other books; and the host of the North Omaha History Podcast.
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We lived on 14th & Spencer St. in North Omaha and drove 16th street. We shopped at the Hinky Dinky store on 16th and Lake Streets. There was also a wonderful meat market on 16th street but I am darned if I recall just where it was located. Schmidt’s Meat Market, and he used his German recipes to make his lunch meats and pepperoni sticks were to die for. He was a wonderful old gentleman who was willing to run a tab for the neighborhood people. When he went out of business it was a big loss for the neighborhood.

Very interesting about the name change (attempt) to Sherman Ave. It explains the name of my preschool way, way north 16th. It didn’t seem to really stick at the time either, since some places’ advertisements would say16th still and some would say Sherman Avenue.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the long-standing pretty brick State Bar on 16th and Locust, 2827 N 16th St. I checked the World-Herald archives and it had been getting liquor licenses as early as 1897 (I think as far as the archives go). In 1931 Nicholas Cubrich bought it and ran until death in 1942. But it was a bar through the prohibition. The Locust Cafe was also located there in 1937.

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip down memory lane! In the list of businesses could you consider adding Schmid and Son Meat Market? It was on N 16th from 1906 until 1975. it was located at 2128 N 16 from 1918 until 1975. it was started by my Great-Grandfather Jacob Schmid Sr, and his son Jacob Jr. Jacob Jr’s son, Jack worked there from boyhood and ran it himself after his Dad’s passing in the early 50’s.